The weekend
by BlueViking77
Summary: JoshDonna After working late a Friday night, Josh drives Donna home. She invites him up, and this is the events that follows that invitation. Chp 3's up. That's all. Complete
1. Chapter I

**Disclaimers:** I do not owe any of the characters in this fic. I wish I did, but unfortunatly, they belong to the guys at NBC.

I would like to thank Jordan, for doing the beta on this fic. She's my life saver, since English are only my second tongue, and have some problems doing everything right... So thank you Jordan. :-D

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**The Weekend **

Pt. 1.

"Donna!" Josh Lyman was standing inside his office, behind his desk, as he called out to his assistant in his busy bullpen. He waited a beat but no one came rushing in to aide him. "Donnatella!" he then yelled softly but still no assistant showed up at the doorstep. 'Where is she?' he thought to himself.He then tried once more, bellowing "DONNATELLA MOSS! FRONT AND CENTER!" Apparently that third time was the charm, because the figure of his tall blond assistant came to a halt in the open office door.

"Joshua Lyman!" she started to scold."Don't shout. I wasn't on the other side of the earth you know," She then said as an echo of the many times, she had scolded her boss before for bellowing for her to appear in his office. She crossed her arms over her chest in protest and took an annoyed position in the doorway.

"Where were you?" he asked her with a voice that was still in a somewhat high-pitched tone."I had called you two times already."

"Shush…!" She shushed at him.

"Donnatella!" he said with a warning tone in his voice. He had luck using that kind of tone on anybody but Donna. She somehow always shrugged it off and ignored it.

"Just went to drop off your memo to Margaret. If you really want to know," she answered him. Sometimes he meant serious business when he used the full length of her first name on her.But it was mostly a never-ending teasing game they played. He would use Donnatella Moss on her, and in return she would use Joshua Lyman back at him. She had to admit it… she loved this name game of theirs. Sometimes too much for comfort, she thought.Josh was the Deputy White House Chief Of Staff and she was his Senior Assistant. So therefore she used to call herself the Deputy Deputy White House Chief of Staff for a laugh, due to her being Josh's assistant."So what's up?" she asked him seriously as she stepped all the way into his office sitting down on the armrest of one of his guest chairs.

"You know tonight…" he began, looking up at her. "I'm afraid that…"

"You're afraid that you have to keep me here again tonight," she finished the obvious sentence for him. She basically knew what he was about to tell her. And staying late wasn't the newest thing to her.

"You mind?" he asked her.

"Not at all," she answered him.

"Okay," he said.

"Okay," she echoed back. She rose from the armrest as they shared a special smile before she left the office to continue her work.

Indeed that day had been long and grueling so when Donna was clearing her desk that late evening, the clock on the wall showed almost 9:15 p.m. That wasn't entirely new, either. Josh was in his office packing his things up and clearing his desk also for the day. It appeared that there was no one else left but the two of them. Well, besides the park police, security guards, the security details of the President and the marines guarding the outside areas. The cleaning personal was also there, of course.

"You ready to go?" Josh asked as he walked out of his office carrying his coat in one hand and his backpack in the other.

"In just a few seconds," she answered him as she turned off her computer. "Now I am."

"Need a ride?" he asked her as he grabbed her coat from the rack and held it out like a gentleman, so she could slip into it.

"Please," she said as he slipped his own coat on after helping Donna with hers. She was on foot that day.

After they had claimed the rest of their stuff, they walked together out to the parking lot behind the White House. Josh's car was, as the only one left, sitting in its usual spot… a spot reserved for the Senior Staff. As they reached it Josh went to unlock the passenger's side. He held the door open for Donna like a gentleman. When he was sure that she was all inside he shut the door gently and then went over to his side and got in. The car ride was silent except for the car radio playing quietly. It was tuned into a station playing soft music that you could easily doze off to. Donna was a bit tired, and sitting in the dark listening to that kind of music, could easily make her fall asleep. Josh was sitting beside her as he carefully navigated the car through the dark streets of Washington.

"This is really drowsing," Donna was thinking out loud as she felt a yawn coming up. She tried to hide it but with no success. Giving up, she yawned loudly.

"Tired?" Josh asked her after hearing her yawn.

"More than I'm used to being, I guess," Donna answered him. Then she yawned once again. "And this music doesn't make it any better," she said as she indicated the car stereo.

"You got a point there," he said. Then he changed the station and tuned into one that played louder music.

That was much better. Donna was still tired, but the new music kept her from feeling drowsy. After about five more minutes more of driving, Josh turned left and headed into the street where Donna was living. After he had pulled up in front of her apartment building, he turned off the car engine.

"You wanna come in for a cup of coffee or tea?" she asked him as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Or a beer for that matter."

"Sure," he answered her as he proceeded to unbuckle his seatbelt himself. He grabbed his backpack and she her purse.

"What about Kate?" he asked her, indicating her roommate, as they walked up the stairs to the entrance door.

"She's away until Sunday, so for the first time in ages, I got the whole place all to myself," she answered him as they stepped inside. "Not that I'm home that much though. Well, the six to eight hours I come home to sleep, of course."

You would usually never make sleeping remarks in front of your boss. But they weren't exactly the typical example of a boss/assistant type of thing. Not with the amount of time they spent around each other and together. A typical weekday in the West Wing could easily amount to around eighteen hours a day, and the trips they made with the President on the Air Force One could sometimes bring the count up to 24 hours a day, maybe 7 days a week too. Nor would any "normal" assistant invite his or her boss in for coffee, tea or even a beer after driving his or her assistant home. In this case it was because they were very close friends, and the shooting incident at Rosslyn, had made them become even close. So he'd been to her apartment countless times before. Most of the times he had come alone, but sometimes the rest of the senior staff gang from the White House came along too. They did what they usually did when they entered her apartment. They shrugged off their coats and he followed her into the kitchen, to pick up whatever they wanted to drink.

"So what do you want?" she asked him.

"I think I'll go for that beer tonight," he answered her. She opened the fridge door, ducked inside and came out again holding two beers in her hands.

"Here you go," she said as she handed him his beer.

They wandered back into the living room to plop down onto the comfortable couch. When they'd opened their respective beers they took their first sips of them. She reached, as a force of habit, for the remote to the TV set and turned it on. She tuned into CNN so they could follow the latest news from the White House. It was a habit for the both of them. If she hadn't grabbed the remote he would have done it. She turned the volume down so low that the sound could only to hear if you strained your ears.

"I think I'll go change into something more comfy," she said after they had sat there for a while enjoying the silence. She got up from the couch after taking one more sip of her beer and set it down on the coffee table.

"Then I guess I'll make myself comfy as well," he shot after her as she made her way to her bedroom. He removed his suit jacket as well as his necktie. Then he took off his shoes, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and unbuttoned it around the neck.

"You hungry?" she asked him five minutes after she had changed. She had put on a pair of sweat pants and a cute well-worn gray T-shirt with the print of Donald Duck on the front. Her long blond hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders.

"No I'm good," he said smiling as he looked at her T-shirt. She was quite cute in that one.

"What?" she asked him as she noticed his smile. Then she followed his gaze and looked down at her T-shirt.

"Donald Duck?" he asked her.

"Yeah. My cousin Cassie gave it to me years ago," she answered him with a smile. "She went to Disney world and her favorite Disney character is Donald here," she pointed to her front as to explain. She sat down again and scooted back into her corner of the couch and put up her feet. "Mine's Goofy."

"That's my favorite too," he informed her. They had a little laugh over that for a while.

"So, how's it going with Amy?" she asked him when they were done. Amy was his girlfriend and Donna had never really been too fond of her. Amy was one of those modern feminists that, seen in Donna's perspective, always did and said something to Josh to make him feel bad. Donna had always been nice to her though, but that was only because of Josh. She would never be able to handle him being mad at her.

"I haven't been seeing her for two weeks," he began. "I know that I used to tell you about things like that but I never got around to it," he said to her. "It suddenly dawned on me that she did everything she could to put me down the last month we were together. So I was the one to break it off between us."

"I'm sorry to hear about that," she told him as to support him, but inside she was jumping up and down of joy. But that wasn't something she would tell him at that time.

"I'm not," he said honestly. "Not to bad-talk her behind her back, but I would say that I am far better off without her," he admitted. "I, in turn, realized that there's another woman in my life, that appreciates me for who I am, and for what I am, in every possible way and that's no matter what's going on."

"Who's that?" she asked him.

"You," he answered her.

"Me?" she asked him, confused.

"Yes you silly," he answered her. "You always support me in whatever I am doing."

They sat there again for a while following CNN, while their senior reporter was reporting from outside the White House. A clip was shown of CJ at a briefing earlier that same morning.

"I have a pair of your sweat pants," she suddenly remembered. "From the time when the rain was pouring down so much that I had to borrow them from you. I just never got around to returning them to you."

"Oh yeah," he remembered. "To tell you the truth, I had actually forgotten about those."

"I figured that much," she said. "Well, could you use those right about now?" she asked him.

"In matter of fact I could use those," he answered her.

"Then follow me," she said to him as she got up again from the couch.

When she had pulled him to his feet he trailed behind her down the hall to her bedroom. When they had reached the open door into the room, she went straight inside as he halted just outside, not sure whether he should enter or not. Of all the times he had been to her place, he had never been in her bedroom before, because knowing from experience that a woman's, or a young girls, bedroom was a sacred place, he had never dared to boldly go there. He had learned that the hard way, so he just remained standing outside, as he watched her rummage through her closet in search of his sweat pants. She noted his hesitation. She was puzzled, but kind of grateful though, that he had the sense to not enter her bedroom without permission. She didn't know why but all she knew was that he hadn't been that close to her bedroom before. So he just stood there outside in the hallway, waiting with absolute patience as she tried to find the said sweat pants. She found them at the bottom of the pile of her own sweat pants.

"You can just change in here," she said as a permission granting for him to enter her bedroom. She handed him the sweat pants after closing the closet door.

"Okay," he said as he carefully stepped inside her domain, accepting his sweat pants on his way. She left him in there as she went back to the living room. He took a quick look around her bedroom. Not to snoop around but he had to admit it he was a tad nosey. The bedroom was as womanly as Donna and the beautiful faint scent of the perfume she wore to work, was still hanging in the air. He then quickly changed from his suit pants and into the sweat pants. He also took off his white shirt. Then after he had picked up his clothes he exited the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He deposited the suit pants and shirt on top of the pile of his other clothing that he had shed earlier. Then he sat down beside her again and they sat there in silence for a while.

"Why wouldn't you enter my bedroom before I told you it was okay?" she asked him. She had been wondering about it ever since she had left him in her bedroom.

"It goes back to my childhood," he answered her. "I learned not to enter a teen girls or woman's bedroom, without permission, the hard way when I was six years old," he said. Not sure whether to continue he shot her a glance. She smiled her little half smile for encouragement. "About a month before school was out for summer that year Joanie turned twelve. At that time she slowly started to change into a typical preteen. Most of it happened over the summer, when she suddenly had all these new sets of rules for me. I couldn't enter her bedroom before knocking, I wasn't allowed to be in her bedroom when she wasn't at home and her door was always closed. I of course was way too young to understand what was happening with her, because before that I could always enter without knocking. She also had my dad helping her paint and remodeling her room. She began plastering posters of idols on her walls, and a lot of her toys went up into the attic. Of course I couldn't stay out of her room, even if my mom, dad and Joanie had explained to me to stay out, she caught me in her room for maybe the hundredth times in October of the new school year. She was then fed up with me always breaking her rules, so instead of calling for my mom or dad, she started to yell at me and then shoved me into the corner of her desk." He got a lump in the back of his throat and his eyes got misty. "I had to get stitches in the back of my head and she was grounded. And had to baby sit me, as an extra punishment, the following weekend…" He wasn't able to go on because if he did he would start to cry. Instead he took a shaky breath and just looked into her eyes and saw the light of recognition in them. "Let's just say that I learned the most important lesson of my life then and there. Never to enter a teen girls sanctuary, or a woman's place without her permission."

"Oh my god Josh!" she said after barely having to put the pieces together. That had been the fatal weekend when he, in an attempt at making his own popcorn because his sister wouldn't do it for him, had started a fire in the kitchen and in that fire his sister had died. He didn't have to explain anything to her. She moved over to him. "Sweetie…" she said as she raised her hand to place it on his cheek. She caressed it only once before opening her arms and bringing her best friend into her loving and comforting arms. She hugged him tight as she felt his arms around her. He held her as tight as she held him. She ran one of her hands up and down his back for comfort. Then she took it up to the back of his head running it through his hair. She didn't want him to go home to be alone that night, so she made a decision then and there. They sat there in silence for a few minutes. When letting go of each other, she took his head between her hands and held it there. After leaning in and giving him a kiss on his forehead, she looked into his eyes. They were full of tears. "You are not going home tonight. I don't want you to be alone."

"Okay," he said as he looked back into her eyes and a tear fell down his cheek. He was ever grateful that she had done this thing for him… comforting him. He was grateful that she knew the rest of the story so he didn't have to explain further… that she knew him the way she did. He was grateful to her for being the best female friend a man could ever have. She was his best friend.

"So how you doing?" she asked him holding his hand.

"I'll be fine," he answered her truthfully. "But now I am tired."

"So am I so let 's get tucked into bed," she said as she grabbed the remote with her free hand and turned off the TV. Still holding his hand in a firm grasp, she got up from the couch and pulled him to his feet. Tugging him after her all the way into her bedroom. "We will both sleep in here," she informed him motioning to her bed.

"Are you sure?" he asked her a bit surprised and overwhelmed too. "Because I can easily use the couch."

"Yes I'm sure that I want you in here," she stated. She saw a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. "You are my friend so we should be able to pull this off. I'll go find you a brand new tooth brush," she said and went into her private bathroom. She emerged a minute later after having brushed herself, with the said thing in hand. "Here you go," she said as she handed it to him. "Go brush your teeth. The toothpaste is on the shelf." She watched as he disappeared into the bathroom. She used the time to change into a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top. She was turning down her bed as he came out of the bathroom only wearing his T-shirt and his boxers. He was carrying the sweat pants in his hand. She wasn't unfazed by the fact that he was in that state, cause she had seen him like that many times before. He had also seen her like she was now in the month after he had been shot, when she stayed at his place to take care of him. So he was used to seeing her in sleeping attire too. She scooted under the covers and patted the other side of the bed, as an invitation for him to join her, which he did a few seconds later. She turned to face him and he did the same as they both made them themselves comfortable under the covers.

"Thank you for letting me stay in here," he said to her.

"Don't mention it," she said back to him. "I guess we both need the company tonight."

"I do indeed," he said as he reached over and removed the strand of hair that was on its way down to her eye. "Have I ever told you, you remarkable woman, that you are my best friend?" he asked her.

"No you haven't," she answered him. "I guess I have never told you, that you are the most amazing best friend a girl could ever ask for."

"Would you take it the wrong way if I told you," he started. Taking a deep breath he went on. "That I loved you?"

"No," she answered him. "Because I would tell you, if you wouldn't take it the wrong way as well, that I love you too." They shared smiles. "Let's get some sleep," she suggested and he nodded in agreement. She turned to switch off the light. She then scooted back to spoon him. She felt him hesitate a little over her bold action, but than he wrapped his arm around her. She grabbed a hold of it.

"Good night and sleep tight," he said to her as he kissed the back of her head. "And thank you for being here for me and thank you for your friendship Donnatella." He also marveled over how good he felt having her in his arms. But it was also a whole new context of them being in contact with one another.

"Good night and sleep tight too," she echoed back and kissed the palm of his hand. "And thank you for your friendship too Joshua. And also for being here for me when I need it." He felt great and she liked being in his strong arms. And the little time she had had to get used to the closeness that they now shared.

They fell silent and soon they fell into a quiet sleep.

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Next chapter will be up in time.

**Please review.**


	2. Leo, White lies & shopping

Disclaimers: Everyone belongs to the NBC. I owe the sales persons in this chapter though.

Again thanks to Jordan. :-D

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**The weekend**

Pt. 2.

At 9.13 a.m. the next morning she awoke to the ringing telephone. She found herself entangled in his arms. Once she had freed herself from him, carefulnot to wake him up and sitting up, she reached for the phone. "Donna Moss," she said drowsy into the mouthpiece of the receiver.

"This is Leo," the voice of Josh's boss, the Chief of Staff, said on the other end. She froze. "Sorry that I had to wake you up Donna, but do you by any chance know the whereabouts of Josh today? He's not answering his home phone or his cell phone."

"No I don't know where he is," she lied and glanced at Josh there beside her. His boss shouldn't have to learn that his Deputy had spent the night in his assistant's bed. No matter how innocent the whole thing had been. "Have you tried his pager?"

"Yes. But there was no answer there either," Leo answered her.

"I'll see if I can track him down somewhere, and then have him contact you," she suggested.

"You do that," Leo said. "Bye Donna."

"Bye Leo," Donna said.

"Who was that?" Josh asked as he was waking up.

"That was your boss," she informed him. "And you might like to know that I had to lie to him on your behalf," she answered him.

"What did Leo want?" he asked again as he sat up.

"He couldn't reach you on neither your home phone nor your cell phone," she answered him. "Nor on your pager. So I told Leo I would try to track you down, and then have you contact him."

"I forgot all about bringing my cell phone in here last night," he said. "I'll give it half an hour before I'll call him. Using the excuse that I was out getting the papers and forgot to bring my cell phone. That way you could have had time to track me down without it being suspicious."

"Good plan," she said.

"Good morning by the way," he said to her with a smile.

"Good morning to you too," she said back to him. "Hope you slept well," she said, sending him an identical smile.

"I indeed slept very well," he said and looked at her. The version of the just awoken Donna he had seen before, but never had he been waking up to the said version, after sleeping in her bed.

"You look to have done that also," she informed him, looking at his hair. It was spiking in all directions and more than it usually did on a daily basis.

"I suddenly got a brilliant idea," he said. "How do you like the sound of eating brunch together? I'll go home for a quick shower, a change of clothes, then call Leo and then finally come back to pick you up again," he asked her.

"Sounds like an excellent idea," she said.

"Okay," he said. "The time is now 9.20 a.m. so I should be back here somewhere between 10.30-10.45 a.m," he said as he looked at her alarm clock on his way out of her bed and went to get his suit pants and his shirt from the living room. "Just keep the sweat pants here until some other time."

"Okay," she said after him as she herself got out of bed. She picked up his socks from the floor of her bedroom on her way out to him in the living room. "Your socks," she said and handed them to him.

"Thanks," he said as he was buttoning his shirt. He put on his socks before trying smooth his hair.

"Wait here for a sec," she said as she went to get a hairbrush for him. "Use this." She smiled as she watched him begin to primp his hair as well as he could.

"Thanks," he said as that task was done and he handed the hairbrush back to her. Before he opened the front door he gave her a kiss on her cheek. "See you later, Alligator."

"In a while, Crocodile," she said playing along with his act, as he walked out the door and left her standing in the open door. Then she decided to take a shower and get ready before anything else.

When Josh had returned home, the first thing he did was to call his boss. Leo accepted his little white lie and his boss just wanted him to check a matter regarding an important bill. After that he took a quick shower and a shave. He put on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a thin body-clinging sweater and his sandy construction boots.

Since the weather was great that day he decided to wear his black leather jacket. Looking at the time he figured that it was time to head out the door again to go pick up Donna.

Before she headed for a shower, Donna grabbed the half empty beer cans that had been sitting on the coffee table since the night before and went to throw them out. After taking a shower she put on lighter makeup

than she used at work and she decided to wear jeans, a T-shirt, a shirt and stuck her feet in her favorite pair of sneakers. She had to dig out her light brown leather jacket to wear that day and she chose that one over her denim jacket. Then she waited for Josh to come pick her up.

Josh pulled up in front of her building exactly one and a half hours after he had left it. He knocked on the door after climbing the stairs.

"Hey Alligator. You ready?" he asked her with his smile when she had opened the door, picking up from earlier.

"I am Crocodile," she answered him as she put on her jacket and grabbed her purse. Then she went out into the hallway where he was waiting, and locked the door and together they walked down to his awaiting car.

Josh had carefully been navigating the car through the busy Saturday morning traffic of the capital. They had been eating brunch in this great diner that he knew about, and spent a good two hours there. They discussed their respective weekend plans, which were really non-existent for the both of them, so they finally agreed on spending that whole Saturday together. After much discussion they had agreed on going shopping. So they had been on route to her favorite mall to stroll and after parking the car they had been strolling it for about 20 minutes when they passed a jeweler.

"Oh, I fell in love with this beautiful silver necklace with an azure pendant in this brochure," she said. "It was from this chain and no price was in the brochure, so I just want to check that."

"Okay," he said as she grabbed a hold of his jacket sleeve and hauled him into the jeweler.

"There it is," she said excitingly after she had been looking around and was still holding onto his sleeve. They halted in front of the locked glass case where she let go of the sleeve. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah it is," he answered her.

"200 bucks!" she said, bummed after checking the price tag. "I can't afford that. Not now anyway."

"Don't you worry! he said as he squeezed her shoulder lightly for comfort. "The necklace will probably be here for a while." He tried to reassure her.

"I guess it will," she said.

"So, how about a cup of coffee," he suggested. "I believe they have a coffee shop in here."

"Okay," she said as they left the jeweler to search for coffee.

They had a cup of coffee outside the said coffee shop. He studied her as she was sitting across from him. She still had the look of sadness from the fact that the necklace had been way too costly. He then made a decision. He excused himself saying that he had to find the boys room. He asked her to wait for him there at the coffee shop. Instead of going to the boys' room, he rushed back to the jeweler, navigating directly to the glass case where the necklace was displayed.

"Excuse me," he called to one of the female jewelers that were behind the counter.

"Yes sir," she said and came over. "What can I do for you?"

"I was in here before with my friend to see this necklace," he said.

"Yes," she said.

"I would like to buy it for her," he said. "As a surprise."

"That is very nice of you sir**,"** she said as she walked back to the counter. There she found the key to the closet under the glass case. She found the right one sitting in its box, and then she locked the closet again, walked back to the counter to begin the wrapping.

"Yeah. She's my best friend and assistant," he said. "Our jobs are very, very demanding and exhausting, so I just want to show her my gratitude, for everything she does for me both in her job and as a friend."

"She sounds special," the female jeweler said.

"That she is. With no exceptions whatsoever**."** he said as he pulled out his wallet to pay her.

"Good luck sir," the jeweler said as she handed him the now wrapped necklace.

"Thank you," he said, taking it and heading out the door. "Thank you very much."

"Don't you know who that man was?" the second female jeweler asked the first.

"No," the first answered. "Am I supposed to know him?"

"Only if you are interested in politics that is," the second answered. **"**That man was Joshua Lyman. He is the

Deputy White House Chief of Staff so he is on the staff of President Bartlet," the second said excitedly.

"What was he doing in here?"

"I am not really that big in politics," the first said. "He was in here before with a female friend of his." The first began to explain. "He came back without her and turns out that his friend is both his assistant and best friend." She went on. "He wanted to surprise her with that necklace over there. So, I guess he was right when he told me that they had these very demanding jobs. That she did a lot for him and the necklace was to show her his gratitude. For, as he said, all she did and had done for him."

"Not many bosses do that," the second said dryly.

"Missed me?" he asked her as he approached her with the wrapped box in his hand, keeping his hand on his back.

"Always," she answered him.

"I know it's a lousy atmosphere here," he began."But I want you to have this," he said as he handed her the wrapped box.

"What is it?" she asked him in the usual fashion as she began to unwrap it. She had no idea that it contained the necklace that she was so in love with. "You didn't…" she said as she spotted the wine red velvet jewelry box. When she had opened the box and saw that it was the necklace she exclaimed, "You did!" She let go of the box and hurled herself into his arms, hugging him tight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He hugged her back just as tight. "But why? What?" she asked him, both confused and touched as she let go of him and looked him straight into his eyes.

"Just for being you and for being the one you are and for being you, Donnatella. Also for understanding how to handle me, but nothing else really," he answered her looking back into her eyes. "For being my best friend in the world and letting me stay with you last night."

"You are just so sweet Joshua, " she said to him as her eyes welled up with tears. As a lone tear ran down her cheek, he did nothing else but reach out and dry it off with his thumb.

"Here, let me help you," he said as he reached for the box on the table. He carefully took the necklace out of it, went behind her, and pushed her long hair away from her neck. He opened the lock making sure the pendant was showing its azure blue stone. Then he put it gently around her neck and closed it. After getting around her he looked at her with the necklace. "It looks beautiful on an even more beautiful lady," he told her. He watched her as she suddenly blushed, looking absolutely happy.

"Thank you so much Joshua," she said, smiling and giving him another hug. "I gotta find a mirror," she said. Turned out the only mirror to find, nearby, was just inside the jewelry shop.

The two female jewelers were still standing behind the counter as Josh and Donna walked in. She began to look at herself in the mirror and touchthe necklace as she admired it. Josh stood beside her looking really proud of her.

"There he is again," the first jeweler said. "And he has his friend with him."

"And it appears that he has given it to her already." The second jeweler said to the first.

"Yeah and she is admiring herself now," the first said. "She looks much younger than him. Like she is in her late twenties," she remarked. "You know those politicians. You wouldn't happen to know how old he is?" she asked the second.

"I think he is somewhere around forty. On the good side," the second answered.

They saw her throw her arms around his neck, and him sneak his arms around her waist then they hugged each other. They were interrupted by the jarring sound of a phone rifling through the jewelry shop.

"Josh Lyman," he said into his phone when digging it out of his pocket. Donna went back to look at herself in the mirror again.

"Hi honey!" the cheerful voice of his mom filled his ear.

"Oh hi Mom,**"** he greeted his mom back as a smile spread across his face. "How are you?"

"That's your mom?" Donna asked him as she turned her attention from the mirror, over to him and his phone conversation.

"Just fine sweetie," his mom answered him. "Where are you? I couldn't reach you at home, so I tried your cell phone. Are you on your way to work?" His mom fired questions at him.

"No work whatsoever today, hopefully," he answered his mom. "So Donna and I went shopping and we're now standing in her favorite mall," he noticed that Donna followed the conversation intently, smiling.

"Could I say hi to her?" his mom asked.

"Sure you can, Mom Just hold on a minute," he answered her. "My mom wants to say hi to you," he said to Donna as he handed her the phone.

"Hi Rebecca," she greeted his mom when she had accepted the phone and put it to her ear.

"Hi my dear girl," his mom greeted back from the other end. "How are you, sweetie?"

"Just fine, Rebecca**,"** she said as she smiled adoringly. She loved Josh's mom.

"So, no work today?" his mom asked. "So you two went shopping."

"We did go shopping," she said. "And yes, no work." She debated whether to tell his mom about the necklace but in the end she decided not to. It was a thing between Josh and her. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine," his mom said. "Thanks for asking, my dear girl."

"Its great to hear," she said to his mom. His mom had called her "my dear girl" ever since they had met each other the first time after Josh had been shot. And Donna didn't mind it because she loved it.

"Can I have my son back now?" his mom asked her.

"Sure you can," she answered her. "It was nice talking to you again, Rebecca."

"Me too, my dearest girl. Take care of my son," Rebecca said.

"I sure will Rebecca," she said. "Bye."

"Bye, dear girl," his mom said and then Donna handed the phone back to Josh.

"I'm back again now Mom**,"** he said when he had received the phone again.

"What suddenly brought this shopping trip on?" his mom asked him.

"We decided to eat brunch together this morning since we didn't have to go in. Then we found out that neither one of us had any plans, so we decided to go shopping together," he explained, leaving the part about the night and the bracelet part out.

"That was such a good idea," his mom agreed. "I think I'll leave you two to your shopping. I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Okay Mom," he said to her. "It was nice to hear you too."

"I love you," his mom said.

"Love you too," he said back.

"Take care of yourself and Donna. Bye honey," she said.

"I sure will. Bye Mom," he said back to her. He pushed the end button and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

"Have anyone ever told you that you are very sweet to your mom?" she asked him.

"No one except for you," he answered her. Then he realized that were still standing in the jewelry shop. "Maybe we should get out of here," he suggested. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her out.

* * *

Next chapter will be up in time.

**Reviews again please.**


	3. A talk, Sunday morning and Kate

Disclaimers: Once again I don't owe anyone, except for Kate. That honor goes to the guys at NBC.

Once again thanks to Jordan.

* * *

**The weekend**

Pt. 3.

After spending the whole Saturday afternoon together they agreed to have dinner together. Neither one really had the desire to sleep alone again in empty apartments, so before heading for her place, they made a swift stop at his place to pick up an overnight bag. After that they shopped for groceries. So after they had eaten they took up residence on the couch, sitting close together, each sipping of a glass of white vine.

"This was such a great day," she announced.

"Indeed it was," he said back.

"And thanks again for the necklace," she said, and touched it as she was putting her head on his shoulder.

"Well, you deserved to get a present," he said as he put his arm around her. He felt her make herself comfortable.

"I didn't mention it to your mom, because I would like it to be a thing between us," she said.

"Kind of like our own little secret, you mean?" he asked her.

"I guess you could say it like that. At least for now," she answered him. "Never in my life would I have imagined this," she began.

"Imagined what?" he asked her.

"That you, my boss, would end up becoming my best friend," she finished.

"Well, right back at you," he said as he tightened his grasp around her. "Except that you are my assistant of course."

"Can I tell you something really personal?" she asked him.

"Yes you can," he answered her.

"I felt closer to you after you had been shot," she said quietly.

"I know," he said just as quietly. "I knew it somehow after you made so much effort, in the months after, taking care of me. Those months made me feel closer to you too." She lifted her head and looked into his eyes as he looked back into hers. He suddenly wanted to kiss her. "I will ask you about something now, and

you are absolutely free, by any means, to say no," he said to her.

"Ask away?" she asked him, but having a feeling what it was all about. She discovered was right after the next thing he said.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked her.

"Yes silly, you can kiss me," she answered him. "Because I want you to kiss me."

The first touch of lips against lips felt like magic. It was also sweet, gentle, held promises… not the least of which promises of their love for one another. As they were kissing both suddenly awoke to the realization that they were in love with each other, and one could not be in this life without the other. It wasn't just about the physical aspect. It was about everything. She had been a gift to him and he had been a gift to her under that election campaign. Even the fact that he was about to turn forty, and she was only twenty-eight… that age gab of twelve somehow wasn't a problem. This could probably be accomplished because she was wise beyond her age in work situations. That fact had made her the youngest second level senior assistant around the White House.

"Well, this took it all to a whole new dimension," he pointed out as he grinned with his charming dimples, took her head between his hands and looked directly into her eyes.

"I know exactly what you mean," she said as she also took his head between her hands and smiled that special smile that always lit up her whole face.

"Because I realized during that kiss, that I'm in love you," he said.

"I realized that I am in love with you too, while we were kissing," she said.

"So what do we do with that?" he asked her smiling. "Cause it changes the whole perspective of our relationship."

"Yes," she said."We need to know if we can handle this new thing. By that I mean if we are able to see each other every single hour of the day. Without getting on each other's nerves. To tell you the truth, my opinion on that matter is that you could never get on my nerves."

"I feel that too," he said. "You could never ever get on my nerves. Seeing you every hour of the day will never bother me. You have always been my best friend. Why do you think that I have made you stay so long almost every night?"

"Probably the same reason why I have never protested, whenever you have asked me to stay late," she

answered him. "I love being around you because you will also always be my best friend. We'll get used to the new development in our relationship in time," she answered him and caressed his cheek.

"I guess we will," he said. "Without a doubt we'll wait until way later to throw the bomb about our new relationship to our friends at the White House," he smiled and winked at her.

"Indeed," she fully agreed with him. "This will surely throw them all for a loop, when we finally tell them."

"Not even Sam will be told," he said. Sam was his oldest male friend. "Even if I am bursting to do so."

"The same goes for me with C.J. or Margaret," she said. "If I tell one of them about it, the whole place would know about it before the end of the day."

"So, our own little private secret for a while," he said to her.

"Our own little private secret," she assured him.

Then she leaned in to kiss him as to seal an uncommon secret bill. He leaned back so he ended up lying on his back, with her sprawled on top of him, still kissing. She still had her hair put in the same ponytail from that morning, so he gently pulled at the hair band to release her long blond hair. It fell around her face and strands of it fell onto his face and tickled him. He removed it and brushed it to the left side, so it wasn't bothering them.

"I guess this thing was long overdue I presume," he said as they parted.

"You got that absolutely right," she said as she scooted down a little. She was now placed between his legs and propped her head on his chest, so they had eye contact. "It suddenly dawned on me, that I haven't seen your scar ever since I took care of you," she said as she caressed the left side of his chest through his T-shirt, Just slightly below the ribs where his scar was.

"You wanna see it?" he asked her. When she nodded yes, he pulled at his T-shirt so the part of his chest where the scar was became visible. "The doctor said the scar would take a years to go away."

"But it has healed really well though," she said as she looked at it. It was very white compared to his chest skin. Caressing it she said, "They did a really good job stitching it together."

"They did," he said. "But I guess you had a major part in that too."

"How so?" she asked him.

"The doctors told me that you had done a remarkably good job at changing the dressings, so it didn't catch any infections. And how well you'd cleaned it," he answered her.

"It was a little gross, and I'm not that really good at blood and all that stuff, but someone had to do it after your mom had left," she said. Then she kissed the scar and put her head down over the scar. "So I just pulled myself together every time I had to take care of it."

"Have I ever told you that I am so extremely proud of you?" he asked her as he ran his hand through her thick mane of hair.

"No," she answered him. "But you don't have to. I know that you are."

"Can I pull your top up a little?" he asked her hesitantly.

"You can take it off me if you want to," she said and smiled at him.

"Are you sure?" he asked her again.

"Joshua!" she said and sighed in resignation. "How can you be so bold and sure of yourself at work, and then the total opposite here?"

"I just wanna make sure I'm not overstepping any of your personal boundaries," he said.

"Don't you worry about that. I'll tell you when you do that," she said reassuringly

"Okay," he said as he grabbed a hold of the hem of her shirt. As she sat up on her knees to better his chance, he followed her up to a sitting position. As his hands reached where her bra was, she raised her arms over her head, so he could pull the top all the way over her head and off her. He looked at her stomach and chest and found it as he had expected. Alabaster white skin graced her. Her breasts were just like they should be: Not too large and definitely not too small. They were just perfect in a red lace bra, with spaghetti straps, that made a huge contrast to her skin. The necklace hung gracefully around her neck. "Just perfect," he exclaimed out loud as he removed his own T-shirt.

"Thank you," she said as she secretly enjoyed his admission about her upper body. She herself loved the fact that he had such broad shoulders. They fitted in with his just as well-build chest; complete with chest hair there wasn't too little of or too much off. If you saw him in his shirt and necktie you could easily mistake his stocky body for being slightly tubby, but he actually had a visible six-pack for a stomach. Both his upper- and forearms were like two enormous muscles. Those made her feel ever so safe. He possessed both a great male sensibility and manly masculinity that she found sexy and attractive. "You don't look that bad either." She put a hand on both his shoulders and ran them up and down his arms. "You know, I'm not the kind of woman that needs to feel protected. But you make a difference Josh. I want you to make me feel safe in your arms." She squeezed his upper arms.

"I have never felt the need to protect you Donna." He took her into his arms and in process he caressed her now exposed back.He went down to cup her butt. Lifting her so he could sit better on the couch, he sat her down again so she was straddling him. "Because you are without a doubt the strongest woman that I know. Besides my mom of course." He wasn't sure if mentioning his mom in this situation was appropriate… but his doubts came to rest.

"Of course," she told him. She felt his hands rest on her hips and use his thumbs to caress her belly skin. Grazing her belly button, as well as he could, in the process.

"I just want to see," he said as he held her out a little. He felt her brace herself so he didn't have to hold her. She stretched her body a little. There it was: her belly button! He had to admit that it was the most beautiful thing on her body. He had to kiss it and so he did a few seconds later. He also blew air into her belly button. He felt her stiffen a bit, but then she began to giggle. "Ticklish?"

"I am," She answered him. "But mostly it was such a funny and strange feeling that it made me giggle," she

said when she was done. This caused him to do it once more, which, of course, brought another round of giggling up to the surface. "Stop it!" she pleaded him.

"Okay," he said and stopped. Then he placed his lips on hers and began to kiss her. And she responded back to him.

"How about we go to bed?" she asked him as they parted.

"Lets do that," he agreed.

"Then come on," she said as she moved off him. She pulled him off the couch. "Remember your cell phone. I don't want to have to lie to someone calling me to ask where you could be. Again," she said in a rational manner.

"You are right," he said and went over to his jacket. While he dug out his cell phone, she turned out the light, picking up their clothes on her way, and halted to wait for him to follow her into her bedroom. As he came up to her he embraced her from behind. And together they walked like that all the way into the bedroom.

They were not going to sleep together that night. It came under their agreement of taking things slow and getting used to the other being present in the bed, and the transition from being best friends to being lovers of course. But yet there were promises of a lot more skin contact in the air this night. Sure she had seen his boxers and his naked upper body, but he had only seen her bare arms and naked legs below the hem of her skirts. But tonight he had seen her in her bra and more of her legs. He didn't, for that reason, have any problems of shedding his jeans and socks, so that he was only in his boxers. He didn't either expect her to sleep without a little top that night. She on the other hand had had speculations on that matter, whether to sleep only in her panties or not, because he had never seen her in such a state of nakedness before. In the end though, she came to the conclusion that she better let him see her now and not later. It wasn't the biggest problem for her, to let go of her jeans.

Sitting on her bed, he saw as she took off her jeans. Her red silky panties, with a touch of lace, matched her bra, of course. Then her alabaster white legs came in sight. He couldn't do anything but stare. They were just as perfect as her upper body, and she had a cute little butt to go with the whole context. "Beautiful, just beautiful," He thought to himself. Then she came over to him. Turning her back to him and moved her long hair aside. "She wants me to take off her bra," he realized as he got up from the bed. As he reached up he ran his hands all the way up her arms, as to tell her that he appreciated her trusting him enough to do that. Then he reached for the hook of the bra and opened it carefully. When the bra was piled on the floor, he embraced her from behind and kissed her exposed neck, feeling her shiver a little from it.

When she had made the decision for him to remove the bra, she had known by instinct that it had been the right thing to do. He had done it with care and wrapped his arms around from behind. Perhaps to let the newest feeling of skin, with no barriers, fully sink in with them both. He had yet to even touch her breasts, because his arms were only wrapped around her waist, just below her breasts. She felt him kissing her bare neck, and that caused her to shiver. She started to slowly turn around in his embrace to face him, exposing herself fully to him. But first she ended up with her breasts crushed into his chest. After a few seconds she leaned back so she could let him have a look at her.

"You are just so beautiful," he told her, amazed"But, of course you always are," he said as he tilted her head up by her chin to look into her gorgeous eyes.

"And you are always gorgeous," she told him back. "You will always be that to me," she said looking back into those brilliant eyes of his. She tilted her head to one side as she leaned into a kiss. She felt his hands come up to her neck, and begin to remove her necklace… then he kissed her back.

"We better look after this," he said as he held up the necklace in front of her.

"I guess we should," she said as she took it from him and placed in on a shelf before she pulled him down with her onto the bed. They scooted under the covers, facing each other.

The next morning at around 11 am he awoke to an empty bed and the smell of fresh coffee coming through the open door. The night had been spent talking and kissing, nothing else until both fell asleep. He got out of bed and put on his T-shirt before heading out to the kitchen. She was standing at the counter.

"Good morning beautiful," he said as he came up to her and embraced her from behind. He took in how she smelt in the morning and it was the best. He could get more than used to this.

"Good morning to you too, gorgeous," she said back as she felt his arms around her. She clasped her hands around his arms to get him closer to her, sensing the morning scent of him surround her. She then turned in his arms and put her own around his neck. "How about a morning kiss?" she asked him and smiled.

"Okay," he said as their lips met and he tightened his grasp around her.

They never heard the key in the lock. That was her roommate, Kate, coming home earlier than expected. They first noticed her as she was closing the door shut. They broke their kiss and saw that Kate stop in her tracks, looking surprised at the two of them as they let go of each other.

"Oh hi," Kate began, as she looked from Donna to Josh. "Don't mind me," she said as she wanted to retreat to her bedroom, a little chocked to see boss and assistant in that state.

"Hi Kate," he greeted her, a little bit embarrassed. "I guess I will go put on those sweat pants, so please just stay," he said and left the two roommates alone.

"I leave you alone for the weekend, and then come home to find you and your boss in such a liplock!" Kate almost whispered as she came up to Donna. Smiling, she asked, "So, what has happened this weekend, Donna?"

"A whole lot of stuff has happened, Katie," Donna answered her. "I'll tell you later," she said as Josh came back into the kitchen. Now wearing the said sweat pants that had, in their own strange way, started this weekend's adventure. He wandered over to her and put his arm around her.

"So, how you doing Kate?" he asked her now that he was a bit more properly dressed.

"Oh I'm fine," Kate answered him. "And you, Josh?" she asked him but kind of knew his answer.

"I'm fine too," he answered her. He then smiled his perfect dimple smile.

"I gather that," Kate remarked dryly as she looked at them. "I'll leave you two alone now. I have some unpacking to do. Then I will be going over to my boyfriend's,**"** She said, grabbed her overnight bag and retreated to her bedroom.

When the darkness fell over the capitol that night, after they had spent all of Sunday together, they agreed to spend the night alone. Not that they wanted to, but it was for the best. They had to come into work the normal way the next day, after all. So at 10 p.m. they were standing on the stoop outside her building telling each other goodbye.

"So we'll see each other in the morning," she said to him.

"That we will without a doubt," he reassured her.

"I love you Joshua," she told him.

"I love you too Donnatella," he told her back.

She hurled herself into his arms and he put his arms around her, as she did the same. They shared a long goodnight kiss before slowly letting go of each other. The last touch was fingertips against fingertips. Then he got into his car and left her on the steps.

* * *

** These three chapters, were originally one very long fanfic, which I broke down into these three pieces, since I realized it were way to long to publish, in it's original state. **

** This will be it for a while for "The Weekend",since the freaking floppy disc, on which I have the next chapter, won't let me have it. Strange, since I was able to get to it yesterday, buttoday it's trapped "nicely" on that freaking disc. And I don't know why.Grrr!!!So until I have re-written chp 4 from memory, that would be from scratch,there won't be more up until then.**

**But please do review on what you can.**


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